by Cho Seulkina
Published 31 Dec.2020 07:13(KST)
[Asia Economy Reporter Seol Gina Jo] The handshake event with CEOs on the first workday of the new year has become a thing of the past. The three major mobile carriers will also hold their New Year's kick-off ceremonies online due to the spread of COVID-19. There will be no year-end closing ceremonies to wrap up 2020.
According to the telecommunications industry on the 31st, KT decided not to hold the annual "New Year's Workday Meeting with the CEO" event. Every first workday of the year, KT's CEO personally handed gift boxes containing rice cakes and other items to employees arriving at the KT headquarters in Gwanghwamun, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and shook hands with them. Afterwards, the CEO delivered a New Year's message through the company broadcast.
However, this year, due to the COVID-19 situation, offline events have been canceled and only online events will be held. KT stated, "The kick-off ceremony on January 4 will be conducted online," adding, "We must observe social distancing due to COVID-19, and many employees are working from home, so offline events will not be held."
LG Uplus will also conduct its kick-off ceremony by delivering a New Year's message from LG Uplus President Hwang Hyun-sik online on the same day. The company explained that although offline New Year's events were not held previously, this year they decided to consider the COVID-19 spread situation more carefully. Earlier, on the 24th, President Hwang held a non-face-to-face year-end party with employees using the company's internal platform. At that event, he expressed a desire to communicate with new employees in a casual setting once COVID-19 ends.
SK Telecom also has no plans for a separate kick-off ceremony. SK Telecom Vice Chairman Park Jung-ho will attend a group event on the morning of January 4 and then hold a separate meeting with SK Telecom executives in the afternoon. The main points discussed there may be delivered to employees as a kind of New Year's message.
With social distancing measures strengthened due to the recent surge in confirmed cases, more companies across the business sector have ended work early and started their holidays. The three major mobile carriers will also not hold separate year-end closing ceremonies this year. It is reported that a significant number of employees are currently using annual leave or other vacation days this week. In the case of LG Uplus, the group officially ended work on the 24th and entered a long holiday until January 3 of next year, so only a small number of essential personnel are working this week.
An industry insider explained, "Many employees are working from home due to the resurgence of COVID-19, gatherings of five or more people are prohibited, and it is difficult even to have lunch together by team, let alone hold year-end parties," adding, "Since there are no separate year-end closing ceremonies, many places have moved up their holidays."
Employment portal company Incruit recently surveyed 663 corporate members about their "2020 year-end internal event plans." As a result, only 9.0% of participating companies planned year-end corporate events such as year-end parties or closing ceremonies this month. About one-quarter of these corporate events were found to be conducted online.
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